The Gift Exchange
by daredyoutokissme
Summary: December 2013. The Weasley clan gets together for a Christmas gift exchange. Romance, hilarity, and Christmas traditions ensue. A little fluffy.
1. Chapter 1

"Okay everybody, listen up!" called Hermione from the head of the living room, where the whole Weasley clan was gathered around the fire. "We've decided to try something a little different this year. We're going to have a gift exchange."

Audrey, standing beside Hermione, nodded her head in agreement. "We'll explain all of the rules later, but for now everyone has to buy one present. Cover them up, but don't wrap them, and we'll wrap them Christmas Eve so that they're identical. We're hoping to end up with a variety, so be original. By the end of the exchange, everyone will have one gift to take home."

"This will be instead of our usual rotation, so no other gifts except the ones for your immediate family." continued Hermione.

"That sounds like a good idea." said Ginny. "What kind of price range were you thinking?"

Hermione and Audrey glanced at each other. "Let's say no more than eight galleons."

Everyone agreed, and then they went back to their conversations.

Victoire and Teddy looked at each other in dismay. "I already got you something." confessed Teddy.

"So did I." replied Victoire. "Well, I'm working on it, anyway."

"What should we do?"

"Let's see if we can find out any more about how the gift exchange works." suggested Victoire.

"Good idea." Teddy smiled at her. He was fifteen and she was only thirteen, but the feelings between the two of them ran strong, though they didn't think anyone had caught on yet.

Victoire and Teddy got up and headed into the kitchen after Hermione and Audrey. They were helping Grandma Audrey and Uncle George tidy up after supper.

"Aunt Hermione? We were wondering how the gift exchange works." asked Victoire.

Hermione pointed her wand at the dishes and they started drying themselves. She turned around. "Well, I suppose I could tell you a little more about it. One person will open a gift. Then the next person has the opportunity to open another gift or to steal the first person's gift. If you steal two turns in a row, then on your next turn you must open a gift. Once you have a gift, you don't get another turn until someone steals your gift. The exchange is over once all the gifts have been opened. It will make more sense when we actually do it." Hermione finished.

"No, that made sense." said Victoire. "Thank you."

"Yeah, thank you." agreed Teddy. The two of them ran off.

"So the last person to open a gift is stuck with whatever they get?" asked Molly.

"Well, yes. Gift exchanges are also meant to be entertaining. Usually there are some gag gifts, but obviously we don't want any of those." replied Hermione.

"Obviously." repeated George, hiding his grin.

"I'm surprised the kids are so interested." commented Audrey.

"Yes, that was a little odd, wasn't it?" agreed Hermione. "Hmmm."

Meanwhile, Teddy and Victoire had made their way upstairs. "So?" asked Teddy. "What do we do?"

"We'll have to tell each other what our gifts are in advance. Then we can try to steal them during the exchange. But don't steal anything else, just keep opening gifts." explained Victoire.

"Perfect." replied Teddy. "It's not a sure-fire plan, but there's not much else we can do."

"My gift is here." said Victoire. "I can show you now. But it's not finished yet."

"That's okay." said Teddy. "I have mine here too. Give me your hand."

Victoire did, and he pulled the gift out of his pocket and put in in her hand. Victoire gasped. "Teddy! It's so pretty. Thank you." she smiled up at him.

"It's a charm bracelet." explained Teddy. "I could only afford the one charm though."

Victoire fingered the little heart charm. "I love it. Okay, I'll go get my gift." She returned momentarily with a half-finished hand knitted striped scarf. "Grandma is helping me learn to knit. It's not as good."

"It's great. Thank you." replied Teddy. "You made it yourself. And it's so soft."

"If you see something else in the exchange that you want more, that's okay." said Victoire. She could tell the Teddy truly did like the scarf, but she didn't want him to feel obligated to take it.

Teddy put his arm around her. "The only thing I could possibly want more if it were in the gift exchange is you."

Victoire smiled. "You would pick me?"

"Of course I would pick you." replied Teddy.

"I would pick you too."

"I'm glad." said Teddy. He squeezed her hand. "We'd better get back downstairs."


	2. Chapter 2

"So kids," began Ginny as they bustled down snowy Diagon Alley. "What do you want to get for the gift exchange?"

"A doll." said Lily instantly. She was just barely five.

"A doll, huh?" repeated Ginny. "Well I guess that would be alright, but do you think all of your cousins and aunts and uncles would like a doll?"

"Grandma has a doll." replied Lily.

"That's true, Grandma does have a doll. But that's a fancy doll, not the kind you play with."

"A doll." said Lily adamantly.

"Okay." Ginny gave up. "We'll see what we can find. How about you boys?"

"Something cool." said James.

"Like what?" asked Ginny.

James shrugged. "I'll know it when I see it."

"Yeah." agreed Albus. "Me too."

Ginny rolled her eyes. They sure weren't making it easy on her. At least Harry seemed to have an idea, though he wouldn't tell her what it was.

"Alright." said Ginny. "We're almost finished here. How about we head into Muggle London and see what we can find?"

"That's good." agreed Albus.

"Yes, good." added Lily.

They hit a few more shops and then Ginny led them out onto Charing Cross Road.

"Let's look in here." said Ginny, coming to a stop as they walked along. She had seen a few dolls through the window.

Lily spotted them immediately as they entered, and ran over. "Don't run Lily." called Ginny. "And don't touch the dolls." She turned to Al and James. "Alright, look around, but don't touch anything. And no running." Ginny instructed before going over to Lily.

Ginny checked the price tags on the dolls, and decided that they were reasonable. Before she could ask Lily said "This one, mommy!"

"Okay, but I'm not carrying it around." Ginny took the doll over to the counter and asked if they could watch it while she browsed. She was glad to see that Albus and James hadn't gotten into any trouble, although it didn't look like they had found anything either.

Ginny picked out a woolen blanket and collected the boys. As she was about to pay, Albus cried "Wait!"

"Yes, Al?" asked Ginny.

"Can I see up there please, Mum?" he asked politely.

Ginny lifted him up so he could see over the counter. He plucked a notebook and feather pen off of the little display. "I found it!" said Albus proudly.

"Good job Al." said Ginny as she set him down.

After they had paid for their items, only James was left. "Okay James, we can go into any store you want, but we're only going into one. This can't take all day." said Ginny.

James led them several blocks, peering into all of the windows. Just when Ginny thought he was never going to stop, he darted into a hardware store. Ginny didn't know what he could have seen that made him run in there, and he turned out that he hadn't seen anything, because he spent just as much time going up and down the aisles as he had outside.

"What are you looking for?" asked Albus curiously as James peered at the merchandise.

"I dunno." replied James.

Ginny and the other kids were sitting on a little bench at the front of the store when James finally ran up to them. "Okay, I got it!"

Ginny took the package from him. "Do you know what these are?"

"Yeah!" retorted James. "They're locks."

"Right." said Ginny. "And what do you suppose your relatives are going to do with them?"

"I dunno, lock stuff? They're cool, Mum." explained James.

Ginny sighed. "Fine." she said, thinking that her father might like them, if nothing else. It had been a long day.


	3. Chapter 3

Angelina was having the opposite problem of Ginny. Roxanne had picked out a beautiful wooden hairbrush and fancy hand mirror, and Fred had decided on a soccer ball and some pylons. But George hadn't purchased anything.

"Don't worry, I'll just run out and buy something." he kept saying.

"But what?" asked Angelina.

"Underwear! He exclaimed finally. "I'll just buy underwear if it will make you happy."

"No it will not make me happy!" replied Angelina. "No one is going to want underwear."

"On the contrary, my dear wife," argued George "everyone needs underwear. Isn't that right Fleur?" he asked his sister in law.

"That is true." admitted Fleur.

"There we go then. I shall return, and I shall come bearing underwear." said George. He exited the house.

Angelina shook her head. "That man is up to something."

"Don't worry about it." consoled Fleur. "Bill put in five Galleons."

"Men." said Angelina. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail. "Okay kids, time to decorate the cookies!"

The five kids came running in and surrounded the counter top, where the gingerbread men were laid out in neat rows. "You each have 16 cookies. Use them wisely. And you'll be cleaning up the mess." warned Angelina. She and Fleur retired to the sitting area.

"Awesome!" said Dominique. She reached for the gumdrops.

Roxanne was decorating one man at a time, while Louis was using a variety of candy to put eyes on each of his, and Victoire was systematically piping icing onto her men.

"I can't wait to eat them!" exclaimed Fred as he accidentally knocked the bag of sprinkles to the floor. Luckily it was closed.

"Let's try not to make a mess." said Roxanne. "I don't want to have to clean it up."

Finally all of the gingerbread men were festively adorned.

"Beautiful." praised Fleur. "You can each chose two to keep, and we'll make sure everyone else gets to try one too."

Each of the kids tried to select the most candy loaded of their men to keep, except Victoire, who had made all of hers identical except one, which was for Teddy. She chose that one and one of the others and put them in the tin.

"Alright, I suppose you didn't make too big of a mess, so I might help you clean it up if you ask nicely." offered Angelina.

"Please, Auntie Angelina?" begged Dom. She got down on her knees. "Please?"

"Yeah." said Fred, kneeling beside Dom. "Puh-lease?"

Angelina laughed. "Oh okay, there's no need to beg." She waved her wand and the kitchen righted itself. "Now who wants to play in the snow?"

"YEAH!" cheered the children.


	4. Chapter 4

Christmas Eve had finally arrived and everyone was staying at the Burrow. It was actually less of a tight fit than one would think after they had magically expanded the beds. Admittedly, Charlie was on the couch, Lily was in with Molly and Arthur, and Teddy and Louis had to sleep in sleeping bags, but no one was complaining.

Hermione and Audrey were holed up in Ron's old bedroom wrapping the gifts for the exchange. Each of them had already been wrapped in tissue paper, so the two women didn't know what they were, but now they had to put them into identical boxes and wrap them in varying festive papers.

Downstairs, stockings were being hung. Grandma Molly had sewn each grandchild a stocking for their very first Christmas, and each one had the child's name embroidered on it. Each kid picked out a cookie for Santa and put it on the platter. Coincidentally, that was exactly one for each adult.

Then it was time for the kids to put their pajamas on and get into bed. The parents were strict that no one could wake up before eight o'clock. Then each family would open their own presents, and then they would go downstairs and wait for everyone to come before they looked in their stockings. Once breakfast was over and everyone was dressed, then it would be time for the gift exchange.

Finally all of the kids were asleep. Ginny and Harry were lying in bed talking softly to each other. They had used a silencing charm so James and Albus wouldn't wake up.

"You never told me Harry, what did you put in the exchange?" asked Ginny.

Harry looked at her. "Well, I got them before I knew about the exchange, but they were less than eight galleons. I... I got two tickets to Celestina Warbeck."

"Harry! There's no way those were less than eight galleons."

"Actually they were free." admitted Harry. "I wouldn't have put them in, but I know how much your Mum wants to go."

"And what if one of the kids gets them?" asked Ginny.

"I'm going to try to win them and give them to her." replied Harry.

"No!" said Ginny suddenly. "You have to let me win them. I want to take her, and if she gets them she'll take Dad."

"Well, okay." agreed Harry. "How old is Celestina Warbeck now anyway?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Okay everybody, take a seat." instructed Hermione. Everyone crowded around the living room and formed a wobbly circle. Audrey carried the presents in and placed them in the middle of the room. "I will now randomly choose the first name from the hat." She waved her wand and a slip of paper flew towards her. "Victoire! You're first."

Victoire gamely stood up, crossed the room, and selected a package. She unwrapped it to reveal a tin of cookies. "Thank you Victoire." said Hermione, waving her wand again. "George, you're next. You can open a gift, or you can steal."

"Well," said George "As much as I like opening things, I like cookies more." He took the tin from Victoire.

Lucy went next and unwrapped a pair of magic hedge clippers. She was followed by Harry, who unwrapped two teacups with matching saucers. Fleur stole these on her turn. Grandma Molly unwrapped a set of picture frames, and then Fred unwrapped the soccer ball that he himself had selected. Rose was next, and she unwrapped the hairbrush and mirror that Roxanne had put in.

"Ginny," called Hermione "You're next."

Ginny scooped up a package and ripped open the paper. "Very funny." she said as she lifted out a pair of very revealing magenta underwear.

"George!" cried Angelina. "What did you do?"

"Nothing. Why do you always assume it was me?" asked George.

"Was it you?" asked Angelina.

"Yes." agreed George. "But Hermione said gift exchanges were supposed to be entertaining."

"This is your idea of entertaining, is it son?" asked Arthur.

"Let's move on, shall we?" asked Ginny.

So Audrey stole the hairbrush from Rose, Angelina took the hedge clippers, and then Lily stole the hairbrush from Audrey. "You win some you lose some." said Audrey.

Teddy was next. There was still no sign of the scarf, so he unwrapped a set of encyclopaedias, which Hugo promptly stole from him. Then James took the soccer ball from Fred, and Ron took the underwear from Ginny, claiming that he was going to destroy it when he got home. Roxanne unwrapped an adult colouring book, and Bill stole the cookies from George. "That's for taking them from my daughter." he said.

Charlie was next to steal the underwear, saying that is was best if he took them to Romania so they were out of the country entirely. Hermione, who had been diligently recording every turn that was made, went after Charlie, and stole the teacups from Fleur. Albus unwrapped a cookbook, and Louis unwrapped the journal that Albus had picked out, which was stolen by Percy. Dominique took the soccer ball next, and then little Molly stole the frames from her namesake, while Arthur took the encyclopaedias. That was the end of round one.

Victoire unwrapped the locks, and then George took back the cookies. Lucy unwrapped the scarf, and Victoire and Teddy gave each other knowing looks. Harry took the journal, and Fleur reclaimed the teacups. Grandma Molly took the scarf, because she knew how hard Victoire had worked on it. Fred stole back the soccer ball, and Rose took the colouring book. Ginny unwrapped the Galleons that Bill had contributed, and Audrey stole the cookbook.

Finally, Teddy got a hold of the scarf, and immediately wrapped it around his neck. Hugo stole the encyclopaedias, and James stole the soccer ball. Ron stole the underwear, Roxanne stole the locks, Bill stole the cookies, Charlie stole the underwear back, and Hermione stole the journal. For a change Albus unwrapped the blanket, and Louis unwrapped the bracelet. Then it was back to the stealing, and Percy took the journal, Dom took the soccer ball, and Arthur took the encyclopaedias.

In round three, Victoire immediately stole the bracelet from her brother. George had made steals on his last two turns, so this time he was forced to unwrap a knitted hat. Lucy unwrapped some crayons and colouring paper, and then Harry stole the hat. Grandma Molly unwrapped a package of small cakes that Hermione had made, and then Fred took the coins from Ginny, who stole the bracelet from Victoire.

Hugo unwrapped a castle building set that he had selected, James unwrapped a wooden clock, and Ron unwrapped the Celestina Warbeck tickets, which made Grandma Molly shriek. Hermione unwrapped a really cool poster that depicted some type of adventure where characters were following along a map. Louis took the castle building set, and then it was time for round four.

Victoire took back the bracelet, George took back the cookies, and Ginny grabbed hold of the concert tickets. Hugo stole the castle building, Ron once again took the underwear, and Bill unwrapped a pair of women's dragon hide boots, which Charlie said he might be able to exchange for men's. Charlie himself then unwrapped a set of toy tools. Louis took the castle building again. Then Hugo stole the tools, and Charlie was left to unwrap the last present.

"What are you giggling about Miss Lily?" he asked the small girl sitting beside him as he lifted the package up. "Oh, I see." he said as he opened it. "You don't think Uncle Charlie plays with dolls. I'll have you know that I am a doll aficionado. And I'm also... a tickle monster!"

Lily shrieked as Charlie began tickling her. "Well, I guess that wraps things up." said Hermione.


	6. Chapter 6

p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Leelawadee','sans-serif';"That concluded the gift exchange. Charlie and Lily had a great time playing with their dolls. Victoire took home her bracelet, and Teddy took home his scarf. Molly and Ginny had a great time at the concert, while Arthur stayed home reading his encyclopaedias and eating the cakes. Fleur came away with the teacups, and also the boots that Bill generously gave her. Louis and Dom had a great time playing with their castle building set and soccer ball, respectively. Percy and Audrey were happy with their journal and cookbook, and Lucy with her crayons. Molly had lots of ideas about what she might want to put in her picture frames. Angelina was happy with the hedge clippers (George was terrible at gardening) and George did finally get the cookies, though he had to share with Fred and Roxanne even though they didn't share their money or lock set with him. Hermione gave Rose the adventure poster, and Ron had an adventure of another sort convincing Hermione to wear the pink underwear. Rose enjoyed her colouring book and Hugo enjoyed his fake tools. Harry proudly wore the hat Molly Sr. had made, and James found a spot on his shelf for the clock. Lily liked her hairbrush, and Albus cuddled up in the blanket. They would definitely do it again next year./span/p 


End file.
